For my DA, I wanted to focus on the future of the beauty industry. This meant doing research on topics of interest and explaining them in a blog post while also posting TikTok videos to compliment my blog posts. I initially anticipated creating weekly research with a blog post and a minimum of one TikTok video. This changed as I realised my timeline was overestimated. This was all outlined in my pitch.
Original timeline
Methodology
My DA’s initial method was to conduct weekly research, complete a blog post and film a TikTok video. Instead, I decided to complete a 3 blog post series but continue to post beauty-related TikTok videos weekly. This new method for my DA allowed me to research the topics that interested me the most but also allowed me to make crucial observations within my niche. Through this, I was able to make predictions of trends by analysing the videos and the products featured showing me what I needed to create in the beauty TikTok space.
Research
From the research and observations made during my DA, I was able to create content that interested me but also saw me grow as a creator on the platform. The weekly lectures on predictions, trajectories, as well as AI technology assisted me in my blog post series development and are further explained in my DA post.
Social Utility
As this DA is centred around the future of the beauty industry, my DA’s utility is not only going to help others learn about the topics spoken about in my blog post series, but also has personal utility for my future. This DA should hopefully show future employers my dedication to the beauty industry to gain an advantage in my future employment endeavours.
The Future Cultures DA Challenge:
The challenge in this DA was to connect how the future can be represented within the DA. In 1 year, my DA will still be active and will become a more active hobby of mine. In 5 years, this DA has the ability to become a part-time or full-time job which would change the trajectory of my life. In 10 years, this DA could not only become my full-time job but also open up many more opportunities that would yet again open up doors and opportunities that I would only have dreamed of, e.g building my own beauty empire or working closely with my favourite brands. In 25-50 years, my DA could be used as inspiration to other students delving into researching the beauty industry’s past to determine its future.
Successes and Limitations:
My biggest limitation was the lack of time. This limited my ability to stick to my initial plan but brought me my biggest success, the growth and exposure of my TikTok videos. During the DA, I also decided to record my growth which can be found in my 3rd blog post. This for me was a major success and a step closer to being able to do what I love every day.
Another major success was having Sephora like and comment on a video and the chief marketing officer of Rare Beauty, Katie Welch also notice my account.
This semester I focused on the future of the beauty industry, with research blog posts published on my blog but also through observational and participatory research on TikTok. TikTok is in the top 3 social media platforms for marketers to watch in 2022 (Bump, 2021) and has been on the rise since 2020. Being that I enjoy content creation and also study marketing, I understand the importance this platform has to the future of the beauty industry.
Since my pitch, I changed my direction and therefore so did the outcome and the results. I must admit, I always get ahead of myself with my DA timeline. Due to my lifestyle, completing weekly research and filming weekly content for my TikTok alongside lectures, tutorials and other assessments, I decided to reduce the number of blog posts but try my best to continue to maintain weekly content posted to my TikTok account. Although I made the change in the way I completed my DA, the research collection didn’t necessarily change.
With this new direction in mind for the majority of this semester, I was able to focus on producing content for my TikTok account at a consistent level. During this DA process, I wanted to record the progress I was making as this DA is not only about the future of the beauty industry, but also MY future in the beauty industry and trying to find where I fit in within the niche.
I began my DA with the intention to research different areas that would impact the beauty industry and create TikTok videos to embed into the blog posts that discussed a topic in the blog post, which is what I did for my first blog post; What’s Trending within the Cosmetics Industry?
In this blog post, I decided to talk about the trends we should see introduced that will impact the future of the industry. Essentially my blog post looked at the predictions that were being named as the new trends to come or look out for. These trends to summarise the blog post include the discussion on the new makeup trend, the “IT girl” makeup, consisting of natural, dewy and fresh-looking makeup.
To go along with this blog post, I filmed a 4 part “No Makeup Makeup Look” video series showing TikTok my take on the “IT girl” makeup look. In these videos, I also tested some of the popular products that have been commonly found within this beauty trend to test how well they work.
I observed my niche and how viewers interacted with my content and discovered that one of the four videos had a significantly larger amount of interaction than any other video from the mini-series. My assumption is because the first video in the series focused on my base routine for the makeup look whilst using some TikTok favourite products. Complexion products are currently the most popular types of products.
The second predicted trend was the identification of skincare or skincare ingredients and benefits to be introduced into our cosmetic products. This trend is something I have not only loved to research but have found to personally impact my purchasing choices already in 2022. This is certainly a predicted trend that is coming to fruition due to the demand from consumers.
It was after this blog post I decided that I would reduce the number of blog posts and change the focus to TikTok as this is inevitably where the future of most industries will be found for industries to reach their audiences.
Having been part of this industry since 2014, having seen the youtube era grow and fall and grow again, I have noticed youtube take a significant hit and lose its viewers. This is because of the introduction to shorter form videos such as those found on TikTok which show us how the attention economy has truly begun to take over where it is evident the attention of users using the platform is the product. Attention has become the wanted commodity (Bhargava & Velasquez 2020) by the beauty brands and therefore these brands are ensuring that ads are in direct contact with potential customers.
This realisation led to the second blog post; Who is Changing the Game in the Beauty Industry? My interest peaked as to who has my attention when it comes to the beauty industry? This post delved into the companies who own our beloved beauty brands, social media influencers and social media. To summarise, influencers and social media have grabbed our trust and therefore our attention, ultimately influencing our purchasing decisions. This second blog post had a 2-part TikTok video consisting of the beauty products that influencers influenced me to purchase over the years because I trusted their opinions and reviews and hadn’t been let down.
In my third and final post of this series of blog posts, I wanted to mention my future within the industry. For me, my involvement in the beauty and cosmetics industry is inevitable. Working in some form whether that is in content creation, marketing for a beauty brand, product development, or even just as simple as supporting my favourite beauty brands through my purchases, I will always be involved and will continue to be an active part of the beauty industry.
This blog post saw me show my growth results since beginning my DA and staying more consistent on my profile. Where do I fit in the beauty industry? Will I be a part of it in the future? was my most personal post of the set of 3 posts for this DA. All my DAs have a personal element and for me, this specific post felt the most personal. I felt free enough to open up and speak my truth about what I have always felt was my calling, that is content creation. For me, I hope my future can see me grow in the beauty content creation world.
Through this DA I wanted to be open and honest and be myself. I didn’t want to care about other people and low key in my heart, I knew I wanted to grow my confidence through creating content. Being able to see those who view my profile is nerve-racking but interesting. It showed who supported me through my DA but also made me realise those who simply do not believe that the future is in their hands and through social media. It was during the time that my account had significant growth, that I realised the power I could have with consistency.
Power is always in your hands and the future can change or remain on its course through the power you give to it. For me, this DA was helpful to give me the opportunity to not only observe the future of the industry but also observe the interactions occurring. It is safe to say that although youtube consumption has seen a decrease in the beauty industry, it has certainly seen a large increase over on TikTok.
My DA has helped me this past semester realise that most of the future of this industry is based on predictions that trends and consumer demands either become permanent changes or are a short term trend that comes and goes as quickly as they began. The beauty industry is thorough and planned out. Beauty brands know when and what they will launch to consumers and influencers months if not years in advance and with the continuation of technological improvements in this industry, it is likely that what we know as the “beauty standards” of today as the ideal, will inevitably change as brands grow and so too their audience.
The lecture content this semester had a few key areas that had a connection or a connection could be made to the weekly topic. The trajectory of the industry is evidently focused on new innovations and the continued use of social media for brand awareness through the observations I made as an active member of TikTok.
All beauty brands have a unique calendar for their product launches, something only a futurist would be able to assist in its planning. Predictions and assumptions are made in a way that almost every brand in the industry will launch a similar style of product around the same time. I cover this in my second blog post. The future of the beauty industry will also see and has been predicted since 2020, the more common use of AI technology, colour matching foundations to our faces or simply applying lipstick without having to physically apply the lipstick. This is seeing significant growth since the beginning of the pandemic as consumers were unable to go to their local stores to test the products.
Although our futures don’t always go as we plan them, one thing I know for sure is my involvement in the beauty industry. Some way or another, I hope to find myself in a position where I am able to do what I love each and every day within this industry. The future of beauty is one to certainly watch out for.
To close off my DA, I wanted to talk about my future in the beauty industry. To be clear, this is ultimately the industry I hope to work in. With my DA blog posts, I wanted to research the industry and decided to also use TikTok to create content and become a more active member of the beauty industry, most often referred to as the beauty community.
Aside from working in the industry with the hope to work in marketing and advertising, I have always dreamed of working in the content creator realm. I want to make mention of my past because I feel as though this is important for context as to why I feel the way I feel.
Since my introduction to makeup tutorials on youtube back in 2014, I have always loved the idea of creating and posting videos. Still, as a young 13-year-old, the idea of posting content on the internet when I was a shy girl, who kept to herself always scared me. Filming was always fun, but I had no idea how to edit a video or how to upload a video, which over the years I taught myself but was never brave enough to finally post.
In a previous DA, I did finally decide to post beauty videos to youtube but keeping up with filming, editing, uni, a job, a global pandemic and all the craziness in between made the process difficult and it was during that same time, that TikTok was taking off. It was at that moment that I felt I could post beauty content, content free of judgement from those around me. Since then, I have come to love the process of creating content a lot more and because of this, I believe that TikTok content creation is part of my future in this industry.
I made a goal at the beginning of 2022 to consistently post to TikTok.Many people have new years resolutions, I spend my first days of the new year writing up goals that I feel are realistic, growing my tiktok account was one of them. Since January 3rd, I have logged my statistics to see the growth month after month which encourages me to continue to create content.
I didn’t set a specific number of followers or a specific number of views, but I set the goal to be consistent. This has actually been something I can confidently say I have stuck to. Now I may not post daily, but I post to the platform without feeling anxious about what people think because I have come to realise that this is part of my future and you cannot achieve your goals or dreams without action.
So far these are the statistics that I’ve collected since the beginning of the year. These are not all precisely tracked.
My ultimate goal, alongside content creation, has always been to work for a beauty brand and if we’re being specific, Too Faced. Their motto is Own Your Pretty and I felt that that was an important message. I bought every product (still purchase from them just not as often) and was so obsessed with the brand that when I met their Executive Director Global Beauty and makeup artist Elyse Reneau, I 110% freaked out and of course immediately told her I wanted to work with Too Faced. We talked about the different ways I could work for the brand which ultimately meant working for Mecca, which of course, I’m not going to complain about.
19th May 2019
The point of this post isn’t to brag about my love for content creation, or followers (they’re not that impressive yet), but for me to have something to look back on when I’m working for a beauty brand of my dreams or living my dream of content creation or maybe owning my own beauty brand and being my own girl boss.
The point of this DA wasn’t to just research the future of the beauty industry and document it, but to also continue working on what I hope to spend the majority of my life doing. Working or simply being a part of the beauty industry.
My future will always include the beauty industry in some form or another but how I get to the top positions is something I cannot specifically outline because the future is not set in stone. What I do know, is my participation, love and passion I confirmed over 7 years ago.
Beauty is my life, it’s what makes me most excited and calms me down during moments of panic. The love I have for beauty is on the same level as my love for Ariana Grande, my dog Mollie and course my family, and for that, I’m certain that my future will always include the beauty industry.
Live-tweeting this second half of the semester was a very different experience in comparison to the first half. This time around, I felt a little more confident and understood more of what was expected. I even found a little routine that allowed me to generate tweets prior to our viewing of the weekly film and still engage with my peers.
Looking back on each week I began to realise the connection between the weekly lecture topic and the film we watched if I hadn’t seen the lecture prior to the film I didn’t pick up the connection which was something I experienced in the earlier half of our viewings.
The task of tweeting and engaging with these films whilst also making connections to the lecture material was a challenge. I found myself wanting to watch the films and soak up what was being communicated without forgetting to tweet and interact with my peers and the connections they were making and often found that I would read movie reviews and analyses the night before to prepare tweets and tweet them at the perfect moments.
Looking back on each week, I found there were moments that truly stood out to me.
This week was centred on artificial intelligence, Robot and Frank truly showed us a future that is not only possible but also positive. Aside from the stealing, the fundamental value that our future will rely on artificial intelligence in the form of a robot similar to Robot is not only a future we should look forward to but one with many benefits for all ages not just for our elderly. It shows us that our futures may not actually be as different or as dystopian as other films depict our futures to look like and for this I found this film to be one that made me look forward to our future. Artificial intelligence doesn’t have to be negative or completely change our lives for the worse, it’s there to prevent human error, being available 24/7 or for the simple fact that for those tasks that humans may not be able to complete AI is there to assist (Kumar 2019).
Arrival was a film with a slow start. It was highly emotional and focused on that highly interesting question, are aliens real? Futurists use their curiosity to gain knowledge about what’s to come. They anticipate future scenarios and Dr Louise Banks did just that. She used her knowledge and communicative skills and was able to communicate with the Aliens and was given the opportunity to see her own future. The future she was seeing was one she decided to continue rather than alter her destined future. This film showed us the probable, the possible and the preferable.
Alita Battle Angel made me think about the people we already have in our society. If a cyborg is defined as having both human organic elements and biochemical components, this would mean any person with an artificial limb fits within the definition of a cyborg. With this in mind, people with artificial limbs do not yet possess the physical abilities that Alita had. This area of technology has so much yet to continue to develop making it a very important and interesting area to watch out for, we may one day just have our very own version of Alita.
Ready Player One invites the thoughts of virtual reality and cyberspace to us in a way that makes us realise this is our future. Our cyberspace worlds already exist, they may not exist in the exact same way as The Oasis, but we already have The Metaverse from Facebook and of course the virtual reality games. We can even look at our social media platforms as cyberspace, where we can reinvent ourselves if we wish, and only show who and what we want to one another.
This round of live-tweeting was more insightful and enjoyable. The films felt to me to be more realistic accounts of where our future could evolve towards. The advancements we have had in technology make the potential of the futures found in these films feel more achievable. These advancements seem more probable to occur because they have better CGI and special effects that make the events in the films appear more believable and thus also making them more enjoyable to consume.
The lecture content correlated perfectly with each of our films and made me begin to imagine the possibilities that could become our future. Cyberspace and artificial intelligence feel more inevitable than the arrival of aliens and changing our destined future or the emergence of cyborgs like Alita, but we never know when a new life form may enter earth or become lab-grown/sewn. This is where we truly need futurists to plan and think through ways to live through such events. This task has made me question all aspects of life and for that I’m grateful.
The beauty industry has evolved at such a tremendous pace that it can become overwhelming and expensive to keep up with. It is important to know who is in control of the industry to understand how this will affect the future of the beauty industry. Are consumers in charge of the beauty products that are released? Is social media? How about influencers? Or more interestingly, are the brands the ones with all the control?
The importance of social media for the beauty and cosmetics industry is undoubtedly crucial for a beauty brand. One negative review can cause rippling effects throughout the entire beauty community and influence the purchasing decisions consumers make. I know I have been thoroughly influenced by many influencers and their choices but the marketing of a product, from the campaigns, photoshoots and even the packaging of a product, has had an impact on my consumer purchasing decisions.
Is it cute enough? Does the brand align with the collective consumer wants and needs? Will everyone have a perfect match with the shade range options? These are all questions that influence my unique purchasing decisions.
Global sales of health and beauty products are expected to soar 73% from 2016 to 2024, from $432 billion to $750 billion, according to Inkwood Research, a Boston-based research firm (A HEALTH AND BEAUTY COMPANY’S GUIDE, 2020). Currently, the industry is worth $287.94 billion dollars, and with each year to come, an additional $100 billion is to be brought into the industry (Howarth 2022). But really, who controls the industry? And why is this important to know?
Let’s get into the specifics. There are 9 megacompanies that own the majority of the beauty brands we know and love.
Estee Lauder Companies
Loreal
Unilever
Procter & Gamble
Coty
Shiseido
Johnson & Johnson
Kendo
LVMH
These mega-companies are the ones with the ultimate control. They fight for sales and of course, each brand under their company is set to compete with each other but also with the brands from other mega-companies.
Ever wonder why all of a sudden every brand has a similar product? For example, from January- to the current day of April we have seen multiple versions of serum or lightweight, natural coverage/ skinlike foundations and in general a large influx of complexion products? Most likely because these megacompanies have acquired or developed a formula and have made changes to the formula to ensure that their brands can keep up to date and compete for market share.
Consistent launches of the same product have been consistent since these megacompanies acquired these beauty brands. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to have variety and options, but when is enough?
Beauty launches happen almost every day and with these consistent launches of new products, new reviews of a product from influencers are released to the public to decide if a product is worth purchasing. Not to mention, the continued desire to discover and test new products to up your beauty game is unbelievably expensive to keep up with.
It is in my opinion that the consumer has no control over what beauty brands launch because the power of marketing from beauty brands has created the wants and needs the consumer is looking for. Now I’m in full understanding that this is the point of marketing but shouldn’t we, the public who spends their hard-earned money be the ones whose voices are heard when we request a particular type of product?
On the other hand, social media influencers are the ones who hold the most power with purchasing decisions because of the impact they leave their audiences. Social media influencers drive brand engagement and brand loyalty (Lim et al. 2017). The trust a consumer places on an influencer directly affects if they trust the beauty product in question. This trust can consequently increase product sales of the product (Cooley & Parks-Yancy 2019). Studies have found that social media and influencers drive almost an equal amount of online and in-store sales (Barnes 2015).
Myself, I’m most influenced by social media beauty influencers. There are a particular few who I trust so wholeheartedly and have not yet let me down or made me regret purchasing a product. Why do I leave my trust in these people? The simple answer is that have yet to recommend a product I’ve not loved and therefore a solid foundation of trust has been built. If Jaclyn Hill, Kathleen Lights, Shaaanxo, Mikayla Nogueira, or Allie Glines has not mentioned the product, would I purchase it? Honestly, it would depend on my personal interest in the product if I will seek out reviews. If I find enough positive feedback from other influencers, then I may or may not be inclined to purchase the product, but if any of the women I trust mention the product is incredible, you can pretty much count on me to purchase the product at some point. It’s truly their personality and if I feel they’re genuine in their reviews that allows me to trust their opinion.
Loyalty and trust are always qualities we look out for in our daily life why wouldn’t you look out for them when it comes to your beauty products?
Below are a series of videos posted to my Tik Tok account showcasing the products influencers have influenced me into purchasing as well as the marketing of a product that influenced me to purchase.
The future of the beauty industry is truly heading towards influencers and beauty brands collaborating further. This collaboration whether it is paid or not does and will continue to influence purchasing decisions. In turn, this will affect the popularity of a beauty brand and in my opinion will continue to showcase us who in the beauty industry truly has the ultimate control.
Lim, J., M. Radzol, J. Cheah, and M. Wong. 2017. The impact of social media Influencers on purchase intention and the mediation effect of customer attitude. Asian Journal of Business Research 7, 21–30. [Crossref], [Google Scholar]
Barnes, N. 2015. EWOM drives social commerce: A survey of millennials in US and abroad. Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness 9 (2):36–46. [Google Scholar]
The beauty and cosmetics industry has grown enormously since my introduction to it in 2014 and the continued growth and change I’ve experienced have shown that there is more growth to come. Currently, the industry is worth $287.94 billion and is expected to see an increase and reach $415.29 billion by 2028 (Jain 2021). This growth trend is one that at this rate, does not appear to be slowing down.
2022 has merely begun, yet we have a very distinct beauty trend already emerging. The glowy, no makeup/natural makeup trend is currently the most popular. What is this trend? It’s as simple as making yourself look and feel as though you are not wearing makeup when in reality this trend is one of the most difficult to achieve in my opinion. Its complexity is found within the simplicity of the trend. Making makeup feel and look lightweight and natural is not just in its application, it’s found within the technology that’s produced the product.
Below is my series of tiktok videos attempting to create a natural, glowy and fresh makeup look, something I do not normally go for.
This brings me to one of the newest trends and what I believe will become the future of the beauty industry- advanced beauty technology blending beauty and skincare.
Skincare has been in demand by consumers for years and with more knowledge and education and the desire to look more youthful, the demand for makeup with skincare ingredients has grown more popular over the years (Zukarnian 2020).
Hyaluronic acid is a skincare ingredient with the purpose to retain the skin’s moisture (Liu & Nassim 2020). Similarly to collagen, as we age we lose part of the natural hyaluronic acid that is found in our skin which has caused many consumers to seek this ingredient in their beauty products. It is most commonly found in lip balms, lip glosses and in skincare serums to revive and re-plump the skin (Liu & Nassim 2020). I personally have found this ingredient to be extremely hydrating to my skin type (a combination skin type). The main way I source this ingredient is in my lip balms and in my facial serums.
Caffeine is also a commonly found ingredient in cosmetic products such as concealers, foundations and even in powder blush, with its goal to reduce puffiness and improves circulation in the skin. Antioxidants are also found in caffeine-infused cosmetics. This is important to brighten the skin’s appearance and assists with collagen production (Sarah-Jane Corfield-Smith 2013). Personally, I do not actively seek this ingredient in my cosmetic products but I do enjoy brightening concealers to hide the dark circles under my eyes especially after a long night of study before work the next day.
These are just 2 of the most commonly searched for ingredients in cosmetic products but these are certainly not all. As consumer demands change and technology improves, it is my belief that we will continue to see skincare ingredients combined into our cosmetics. This has already begun with the latest introduction of serum foundations. They combine the benefits of a traditional facial serum with the coverage found in a foundation, essentially a 2 in 1 product marketed to give consumers a natural radiant or glowy finish to the skin whilst also ensuring the skin looks and still feels like skin.
This definitely sounds enticing and certainly, the combination of cosmetics skincare is part of the future of the beauty industry but this is only one part, so stay tuned to read and see the next!
These past few weeks have been a very new and interesting experience. Live tweeting a movie is not an activity I have ever partaken in prior to BCM325 and it’s definitely brought up quite a few different emotions for me. In this critical self-reflection, I wanted to discuss pivotal moments I discovered during the process of live-tweeting and discuss what I’ve learned and what I believe I can continue to improve on.
My biggest concern that I’ve developed whilst participating in these live-tweeting events has been the quality of content that I’ve produced. As someone who extremely rarely watches anything to do with the theme of sci-fi, robots and technology takeovers, I have felt very out of place during this experience. This feeling has stopped me from feeling confident in my tweets and relating our weekly lecture content and readings to the films due to my lack of total understanding and enjoyment of the films we have consumed.
A key takeaway from what I’ve learnt during this process is the importance of multi-tasking whilst the film is playing. This has involved creating discussions with my peers, developing my own tweets from things I find interesting or important and the most obvious, watching the film and thoroughly consuming its content. This has not proven to be as easy a task as I had initially expected it to have been and will continue to be a challenge for me throughout the semester.
What I feel I’ve done well has been creating discussions through my tweets and also learning to be open to new film genres and themes I wouldn’t typically consume. I feel as though being open to these new film genres has allowed me to see different perspectives of the films and understand why my peers have made particular parts of the film tweetable moments that have created genuine interest and discussion amongst each of us.
I did want to also bring awareness to the areas that I struggled with which included the lecture content and relating it to the films we have watched. Due to this identification, I will be making it a priority to work on this in my future tweets. I decided to go back through my lecture notes and create connections between the lecture content and the films watched.
Critical Self-Evaluation on Comments- What did I learn during the process?
Looking over my comments, I feel comfortable saying that everyone developed a great pitch and my comments show this. Although all 3 had things I would have included or changed, I must be critical and remember that because all 3 topics are very different to one another, they will not have similar styles in the way they pitched their DAs especially when I compare them to my DA pitch.
I always find leaving comments on my peers work a bit uncomfortable especially if the topics are of areas I have no knowledge/ very little knowledge of. This then leaves me in a spot where I need to find the perfect balance between analysing the topic to the way its presented to come up with a useful and hopefully a comment with constructive feedback ensuring no bias is included.
The main takeaway I learnt from this process is how large and unique all the DAs are from one another although we are studying the same degree. I also love seeing how differently we plan our DA schedules/timelines as this gives me insight into how much work each person plans to put into their DAs development. This can sometimes tell me how invested a person truly is about their topic which for me is very important as why do something if it has no meaning or a degree of usefulness to your future or your interests. I like looking at my DA as a hobby rather than a uni assignment and that for me distinguishes the great DAs from the good DAs.
What do I consider to be good feedback?
For me, good feedback is a bit like a burger (fun fact, it took me 17 years before I ever tried a burger). The top bun is always positive and highlights a well done point, then we have the filling of the burger, which for me is providing the feedback, questioning the DA, and/or highlighted more of what was done well. Then your bottom bun, is about providing links or leaving a useful tip. Although this may not be seen the same amoungst others, I like being praised for something I’ve done well before the areas lacking substance are brought to my attention. I also have found that providing feedback can be discouraging if positives aren’t mentioned which brings down your confidence and sees you question if your DA is suitable for you. For this reason, I like my burger method for leaving feedback for my peers.
What did I learn about my DA from engaging in commentary?
For this, please a take a listen to my short podcast style video below.
Along with my initial aims for my DA, I wanted to provide a proper outline of what I expect to accomplish during my DA. Below is my Gantt chart or my production timeline.
Planning, researching, collecting feedback as well as creating content are all important tasks that I hope to ensure are completed throughout the duration of my DA. These 4 main tasks will make up the bulk of my DA. This leads me to explain why my DA will have utility for myself and for others in the near and far future.
Utility
My DA has utility for my future for the simple reason that I hope my future employers find this DA and recognise the dedication and passion I have for the beauty industry. Since my first dance recital, I’ve fallen in love with the process of applying, supporting, collecting, researching and testing beauty products. I hope for my near, after Uni future, in the next 2.5 years, when I begin applying for my dream job roles within the industry, that my DA gives me the extra edge that allows me to stand out amongst other applicants.
For the far future, I hope that I can look back at my DA and recognise the trends, techniques, predictions and even be able to look back on what would be my history and acknowledge the areas and things that brought me closer to the beauty industry. I hope that future students can look at my DA in 1 year, 3 years, or 20+ years and use some of my research, predictions and content to put towards their own predictions.
Predictions and forecasting are important aspects of future studies. Through the development of my DA, the focus will be centred on these 2 aspects. As we progress into the semester, I will also continue to incorporate the weekly topics into my DA development.
Feedback
Upon beginning and creating content, I intend to respond to any feedback and comments I receive on my TikTok and peers as a way to begin a discussion. Discussions are a great way for me to see alternate views and gain more perspective and understanding. With this, I hope to be able to then if required improve my content or style of delivery of the research to ensure I am producing engaging and thoughtful content.
Let’s Begin
As with most things, history often repeats itself such as with fashion trends, but as for my first prediction for my DA, I do not believe that many beauty trends will repeat themselves. There are things we have all gone through or have seen, and have come to the conclusion that we do not want their return. I think rather than returning, history will be reinvented. Thin brows will not be back and nor will the square, blocky brows (been there, done that, instant regret). I also aim to dive into what activism has looked like in the industry for the recognition of African Americans and those with deeper complexions.
Olivia Lopez 